Kerry Asks Turkey to Act on Relations With Israel

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, left, and Secretary of State John Kerry met in Istanbul on Sunday before Mr. Kerry went to Jerusalem to confer with Israeli and Palestinan officials.Credit
Pool photo by Hakan Goktepe

JERUSALEM — Before departing for Israel on Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry found time in Istanbul to urge Turkish leaders to make good on their commitment to normalize relations with Israel.

“We would like to see the relationship get back on track in its full measure,” Mr. Kerry said after meeting with Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu.

By evening, the peripatetic Mr. Kerry was in Ramallah, the Palestinian capital in the West Bank, to explore ideas on how to advance the stalled peace Israeli-Palestinian peace process with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.

This is Mr. Kerry’s third trip to the Middle East since he became secretary of state on Feb. 1, signifying the Obama administration’s intensified focus on the region.

The major question is whether the stepped-up diplomatic pace will yield progress either on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process or on Syria, where Mr. Kerry’s push to change President Bashar al-Assad’s “calculation” about his ability to hang on to power has yet to bear fruit.

Diplomatic ties between Turkey and Israel have been frozen since 2010, when nine activists — eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent — were killed when the Israeli military intercepted the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship that was trying to run the naval blockade on supplies to Gaza, and met resistance on board.

During his visit to Jerusalem last month, President Obama brokered an agreement between Israel and Turkey to restore ties. But no sooner had the agreement been announced than Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, boasted that it underscored his nation’s regional clout, adding to American concerns that the two sides might not follow through.

Several Israeli diplomats, including two senior advisers to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were expected to arrive on Thursday in Ankara, the Turkish capital, to discuss the compensation Israel is expected to provide to the families of those killed in the 2010 episode.

Eager to smooth the path for a restoration of ties that would lead to the return of Turkish and Israeli ambassadors to their posts, Mr. Kerry said that he had been assured by Mr. Davutoglu that the Turkish government would avoid any boastful displays of “triumphalism” in having succeeded in getting the Israelis to make concessions — which included an apology from Mr. Netanyahu.

Mr. Davutoglu, however, appeared to sketch out a more ambitious set of expectations for rebuilding Israeli-Turkish relations, citing several “preconditions,” including the “lifting” of the Israeli embargo on Gaza, which he said should follow the settling of the compensation issue.

A Turkish official, who asked not to be named because of his diplomatic status, said that the embargo his country wants lifted pertains to goods for civilian use and not military equipment.

As soon as there were progress on the issue of compensation and on the lifting of the embargo, the Turkish official said, “we would press the button to relocate our diplomats in Israel.”

To the consternation of Israeli officials, Mr. Erdogan, whom Mr. Kerry met with on Sunday, is planning to visit Gaza soon. Mr. Erdogan is also scheduled to go to Washington next month to meet with Mr. Obama.

Mr. Kerry’s visit to Israel presented another set of challenges. Before he arrived on Sunday afternoon, a Palestinian official said that his side had agreed to a request from the secretary of state not to take any actions that could harm efforts to restart talks on an eventual two-state solution for a period of eight weeks.

The official said the Palestinians understood that to mean that they should refrain from pursuing claims against Israel in international agencies like the International Criminal Court.

“We are not canceling those efforts, but we are freezing them,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, following diplomatic protocol.

The Palestinians say they still want Israel to commit to the old 1967 boundaries as the basis for the borders in a two-state solution, a demand Israel has consistently rejected. The official said that in a meeting last month with Mr. Obama, Mr. Abbas proposed that Mr. Netanyahu should present a map showing what he sees as the territorial solution.

Israel says it remains committed to negotiations with no preconditions, a position that Mr. Obama appeared to endorse during his visit here.

“From Israel’s point of view, you cannot discuss the borders, let alone finalize borders, without dealing with the core issues of Israel’s legitimacy, its security concerns, and to hear from the Palestinians that the conflict is over,” said a senior Israeli official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The Israeli official added that a Palestinian willingness to suspend further approaches to international agencies would be “a move in the right direction,” and that Israel was ready for “reciprocal, mutual confidence-building measures.”

The Israeli official would not go into specifics, but there have been suggestions that Israel might temporarily suspend announcements of further settlement construction or consider releasing some Palestinian prisoners, an issue that the Palestinian leadership has highlighted.

Before meeting with Mr. Abbas, Mr. Kerry sat down with senior Palestinian officials to discuss “how to create a positive climate for negotiations,” according to a senior State Department official.

Mr. Kerry still has another day and a half of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials ahead of him before leaving for London and a gathering of the Group of 8 advanced industrial nations. An array of issues are to be discussed at the London session, among them Syria and Mr. Kerry’s efforts in the Middle East.

Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul.

A version of this article appears in print on April 8, 2013, on page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Kerry Asks Turkey to Act On Relations With Israel. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe